


The Lost Ranger

by Cordell_Reid



Category: Post-Apocalyptia Fiction
Genre: Apocalypse, Gen, Ranger Cascades Post-Apocalyptia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-03-13
Updated: 2011-03-13
Packaged: 2017-10-16 22:23:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/169997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cordell_Reid/pseuds/Cordell_Reid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A small community in Smithtown, WA survives in the post-apocalyptic Cascade mountains.  The Ranger is a kind, knowledgeable man who joined their numbers in the weeks after The Attack.  He guides the towns folk, helps them defend against outsiders, and thrills the youngsters with tales of a wonderful place called Texas, far away to the southeast, where the land is so flat you could "get a wagon rolling and it'd roll half-way across the state all the way down to the Gulf"</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Lost Ranger

 

 

The Lost Ranger

 

 

 

by

 

 

Cordell Reid

 

 

 

 

Chapter 1:

 

 

"Vehicular Archaeologist"

 

 

The young man, just a teen actually, walked down the dusty, broken road, picking his way between the rusting cars and trucks abandoned during the madness years ago. He barely remembered The Attack, and the terror as millions tried to flee the big cities. Truth is, for him there wasn't much too remember, other than daddy didn't go to work anymore, and the power went out for good. His family had lived back in the hills, far from the busy interstate roads from the old days. He used to sit and listen to his dad tell stories about how all the “unprepared yuppies” started fleeing the big cities in fear during The Attack. “I saw a couple of cars crammed with TV's, computers, and gaming systems, where the parents were trying to write checks at the McDonald’s.... they didn’t have a bite of food in the car. Wonder how long they made it” He would say around the fires at night.

Shaking the visions of what the road must have looked like just ten years earlier, the young man walked down the old highway, glancing all about. This was New Territory after all, no telling what dangers lurked about. It had been several years since the mountain blew its top, and the lava had stopped, and the lahar flows had finally solidified enough to allow expeditions and loan explorers to cross. He was part of a scrounging expedition, scouting out vehicles for parts and supplies to bring back to the town, nestled in the Cascade foothills. There were several vehicles on their target list: dual tankers full of precious fuel, tool trucks, welding rigs, farm equipment... and ambulances. Some would be marked for later retrieval, while smaller equipment would be loaded into the caravan to take back right away... Medical equipment was on a high priority, and would be couriered back to Smithtown immediately. Most passenger cars and SUV's were left alone; there were far too many to go through, and some cars had become coffins for their unlucky drivers.

Muttering to himself about the lack of anything really useful, the young teen rounded a curve and noticed a disturbance in the pattern of abandoned vehicles. As he drew near, the jumble of cars and trucks were jammed up on an old road block where long ago the worst of humanity had manifested itself during the worst of the madness. Evil minded people had blocked the road, taking whatever toll they felt like from the fleeing refugees. On the far side of the road block, heading against the flow of traffic was a large boxy vehicle. Traces of red and while markings showed through the rust and moss, and the vehicle looked like a van was trying to come out of its box. The teen jumped over the barricade and brushed off some of the dirt, rust, and moss. The letters A BU AN E came into view. “Abuane? A? AMBULANCE!!! JACKPOT!!” the boy cried to himself, then remembering he was all alone, quickly ducked down, and swept the area with his rifle. Not seeing anything threatening, he started investigating the vehicle, rig The Ranger would call it when he saw it. The windshield had numerous bullet holes on the drivers side. Avoiding the cab, the teen moved around to the external compartments, making a quick mental note of the contents. Opening the rear doors, the young man jumped back in shock. Two corpses lay in the back, one atop the other which was laying on a small, wheeled bed. Carefully backing out, the man reverently closed the tomb doors. Clambering back over the blockade, he slung his rifle over his shoulder and started a comfortable trot that would bring him back to camp quickly, but not wore out. The Ranger would be happy with his find, and perhaps would come out himself!

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter 2 is underway. Please feel free to leave any and all criticism. (Grammar, usage, topic, clarity...) I'm new to semi-serious writing, and I don't want to get to far off track before I get too far in to the stories/book.
> 
> Thanks For Reading!
> 
> Cordell Reid


End file.
